Method for cleaning toilet bowls



Nov. 25, 1969 1. N. EwALD, JR

METHOD FOR CLEANING TOILET BOWLS Filed Jan. 18

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United States Patent O U.S. Cl. 134-24 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The method employs a toilet bowl stopper including a hollow stem having an upper overflow opening and a hollow bulb open to the interior of the hollow stem at the botom of the stem. The bulb has an opening therethrough. The stopper is placed in a toilet bowl so that the bulb seals off the drain opening of the toilet bowl while the bulb opening is in alinement with that opening. The overflow opening in the stem is positioned adjacent the top edge of the bowl. `Cleaning chemicals are added to the bowl and the bowl flushed. The water will fill the bowl and the excess will pass out through the stem overow opening. Thus the chemicals added to such water will act to clean the entire bowl, `and not just that portion thereof normally below the trap water level. Pressure of the water holds the stopper in place. When cleaning action is complete, the stopper is removed to allow the water to ow out of the drain until the normal trap water level is established.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION This invention relates to the art of cleaning toilet bowls by scrubbing or by utilizing chemical action or by a combination of both.

A toilet bowl is so constructed that the normal static water level thereof contacts only a relatively small bottom portion of the entire bowl. Thus when human and other waste products are deposited in the bowl for disposal, there is minimum opportunity for the water in the bowl or these waste products to splash outside of the bowl. The primary function of the upper portion of the bowl is to intercept any such produtcs and splash. When the bowl is periodically flushed to remove such waste products, and to carry them down into the toilet drain conduit, openings around the top edge of the bowl are designed to direct the flushing water to attempt to wash all deleterious materials out of the bowl. Over extended periods of use, however, waste materials deposited in the bowl do build up a highly objectional coating on the bowl which must be periodically removed. This periodic cleaning of the toilet bowl is universally recognized as one of the most disagreeable household tasks which still must be performed.

Prior to the present invention, brushes of a particular design have been utilized to attempt to scrub the bowl including the area lying below the normal water trap level, the area above the normal water trap level which is periodically rinsed when the toilet is flushed, and that area between the top edge of the toilet bowl and the uppermost limit of the rinsing water.

3,480,021 Patented Nov. 25, 1969 Mice In order to assist the scrubbing action, dry chemicals have -been devised which can be poured into the trap water and allowed to dissolve. This concentration of chemicals will reach into the trap water area out of reach of the brush and will do an effective job on the bowl surfaces lying beneath the trap water level.

Use of a brush to carry this chemical-water solution up to the sides of the bowl above has not been satisfactory because the chemical action is not su-stained effec-tively past the time when the chemicals and water run down off the sides of the bowl.

Liquid chemicals in plastic squeeze bottles have been developed which can be squirted full strength onto the upper areas of the bowl. These are highly objectionable because of the strong fumes which emanate into the room during their use and because it is extremely diflcult if not impossible to get an even coating over the upper surfaces to the bowl to provide effective cleaning action on all such surfaces. Further, when such chemicals are squirted on areas of the bowl above the normal flushing area, it is extremely difcult to completely remove traces of them after the desired chemical action has been obtained. Also, surfaces of the upper bowl including passageways for the top flush water into the bowl cannot be reached by such squirted chemicals.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A stopper having a hollow stern `and a hollow bowl is provided with an upper overflow opening in the stem and a drain opening in the bulb.

To clean a toilet bowl, the stopper is situated to seal the toilet drain with the bulb drain opening alined with the toilet bowl drain opening and with the upper overflow opening adjacent but below the top of a toilet bowl to be cleaned. The toilet will be flushed in the normal manner and chemicals of suflicient strength to have effective cleaning action will be added to the bowl. The flush water will build up in the bowl to the point `where the excess runs out of the overflow opening in the stem of the stopper. This water, being well above the normal level of trap water existing on the downstream side of the bowl drain, will tend to maintain the bulb in sealing relationship to the toilet bowl drain opening, and this relationship will be maintained until the chemical has had an opportunity to complete its action on the deleterious materials below the temporary full bowl water level. If desired, a brush can be utilized to provide a scrubbing action to assist the chemicals in their action over the areas where a brush can reach.

When the necessary and desirable cleaning action has been achieved, the stopper will be removed from sealing relationship with the bowl drain opening, and the chemically treated water will ow out of the drain opening replacing the plain trap `water which has thus far existed between the drain opening and that part of the trap existing outside of the bowl. This chemically treated water will then continue its action on that portion of the drain trap.

The toilet can then be flushed one or more times to remove all traces of the chemically treated water, and the stopper can be replaced as described above to allow the clear ush water to attain the same height as to the chemically treated cleaning water, thus to remove all traces of the chemically treated Water from the upper portions of the bowl not normally flushed out on each use cycle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. l is an elevational view of a first form of toilet bowl stopper of the present invention in position for use within a typical toilet bowl, whichbowl is shown in vertical cross-section;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged elevational view of the toilet bowl stopper and an enlarged cross-sectional view of the toilet 'bowl of FIG. 1 with parts in section and parts broken away, and showing the water level in the toilet bowl as it will be maintained by the stopper to permit chemical cleaning action of the bowl;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional View of the stopper of FIGS. land 2; and

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of a second form of toilet bowl stopper of the present invention showing its relationship to a toilet bowl which is shown in vertical section.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A toilet bowl stopper made according to a lirst form of the invention is disclosed in FIGS. l, 2 and 3 as having a hollow stem 12 and a hollow flexible bulb 14 adjustably mounted in sealing relation to the stem as at 16. As disclosed in the drawings, this mounting is by means of threads 18, lbut it is to be understood that a tight press fit lbetween the parts would also be suitable for the purpose.

A single upper overflow opening is provided in the stem 12, but it is to be understood that a plurality of such openings could be provided on substantially the same level. The bulb 14 is provided with drain opening 22, as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3. A handle 24 can be conveniently mounted over the stem 12.

To utilize the stopper of the invention, it will be placed into a toilet Ibowl 24 in position as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 So that the iiexible bulb 14 will completely seal a drain opening 26 in the main casting 28 of the toilet bowl, and so that bulb drain opening 22 will be open to that portion 30 of the toilet bowl trap which lies between the drain opening 26 and the toilet drain conduit 32. The stopper will be manipulated by the handle 24 to position the stem 12 straight up and down or as shown in FIG. 2. When the stopper is rst used in a particular toilet bowl, the relationship of the bulb 14 to the stem 12 is adjusted so as to position the bottom edge of the opening 20 near but below the top edge portion 34 of the toilet bowl 24.

The toilet will then be flushed in the usual manner to cause water from the water closet 40 to enter the ringshaped chamber 42 and to discharge into the toilet bowl through openings such as indicated at 44. The bowl will ll to the level as shown in FIG. 2, for example, and at that point suiiicient chemicals will be added as indicated in FIG. 2 to provide a solution, when dissolved with the water in the bowl, to be effective in cleaning the bowl.

-It is to be noted that, as seen in FIG. 2, the level of the water in the toilet bowl can be established at a point where it `will maintain a water level up inside of the ringshaped chamber 42. Virtually the entire chamber could be cleaned in this manner as the chemicals dissolved and the Water-chemical mixture became dispersed uniformly throughout its volume. Another way to achieve cleaning action in the ring-shaped -chamber would be to add chemicals to the water in the water closet.

In order to achieve cleaning action in the portion 30 of the toilet trap between the drain opening 26 and the drain conduit 32, chemicals will be added to the water before the stopper is inserted.

The pressure of the water in the toilet bowl, acting on the bulb, will hold the bulb in sealing relationship to toilet drain opening 26 and will hold a stopper in position for so long as it is desired to allow the chemical cleaning action on the entire bowl to continue. This action can be assisted or even replaced by the use of the usual long-handled toilet bowl scrub brush or other suitable brush.

When the cleaning action has been completed, the stopper will be manipulated by handle 24 to break the seal between the bulb 14 and the drain opening 26, thus allowing the water in the bowl to again seek the level as shown in FIG. 1.

If this water is not immediately disturbed by a further flushing of the toilet, the cleaning action will now take place on that portion of the trap which was outside of the drain opening 26.

In the usual case, however, the toilet will immediately be liushed to wash any traces of chemical and loosened deleterious materials from the bowl surfaces. If desired, the stopper can be reinserted, and a further liushing will then bring the water level back up to the position near the top of the bowl, thus allowing clear flush water to reach up as high as the chemical cleaning Water, thus completely removing any traces of this water even from those areas of the bowl normally outside of the flushing action.

As shown, a stop collar 36 is integral with the stem 12 so that the stem cannot be moved down inside of the bulb 14 past the position indicated in dotted lines at 38. This insures that thepstem 12 will never be in such close relationship to the `bulb 14, that the passage of water from the stem to the bulb will be unduly impeded.

In a second form of the invention as shown in FIG. 4, a flexible flange 50 of resilient material Ihas been constituted as an integral part of a toilet bowl stopper bulb 54. This ange will be helpful in establishing the sealing relationship between the bulb 54 and the drain opening 56 in toilet bowls of non-standard design.

Also. two openings 60 are provided in stem 52. This will facilitate immediate drainage of overflow waters through the stem and bulb and out of the drain opening, and will reduce any possibility of accidental overow of the bowl.

Use of large openings such as indicated at 60 and use of stems of even larger diameter, for example commensurate with the size of the opening from the water closet to the ring-shaped chamber, will allow the upper overow openings to be positioned much closer to the top portion 34 of the toilet bowl than illustrated here. This `will insure a thorough cleaning action on virtually all of the areas of the bowl, seen and unseen.

I claim:

1. A method for cleaning a toilet bowl having a normally full water trap portion at a. -bottom portion thereof and a drain opening located in said trap portion below the normal static trap Water level, including the steps of temporarily blocking said drain opening with a stopper including a hollow stem having an upper overiiow opening and a hollow bulb open to the interior of the hollow stem at the bottom of the stem, said bulb having an opening therethrough; said blocking step being performed by placing said stopper in said toilet bowl so that said bulb seals off said rain opening while the bulb opening is in alignment with said drain opening and while said overflow opening is positioned adjacent the top edge of the bowl; intoducing water into said toilet bowl to till said toilet bowl to a level adjacent the top edge of the bowl and above the normal static trap water level to cover the areas thereof to be cleaned, said level adjacent the top edge of the toilet bowl being maintained by water excess overflow through said stern overliow opening; utilizing cleaning means and said introduced water to clean the areas of said bowl in contact therewith; and unblocking said drain opening to allow said bowl waters to pass therethrough to re-establish said normal drain trap water level.

2. The combination as specified in claim 1 wherein said cleaning means is at least partly chemical in nature by adding chemicals to the waters in said toilet bowl to initiate a cleaning action.

3. The combinaiton as specified in claim 2 wherein at least some chemical is added to the toilet bowl waters before the drain opening is blocked.

4. The combination as specified in claim 2 wherein at least some chemicals are added to the toilet bowl waters after the drain opening is blocked.

5. The combination as specied in claim 2 wherein the waters are added to the toilet bowl through the instrumentality of a Water closet emptying into said bowl, and at least some chemicals are added to the bowl water before that water is emptied into the toilet bowl.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Pike 134-8 Pike.

Strater 4-255 Hribar 4-256 Ahern 134-24 Ahern 134-24 Hellwig.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 

